University Park trees cut down

With the start of winter quarter, students were surprised to
return to campus to discover nine Eucalyptus trees had been cut
down around University Park.

Mark Miller, director of Facilities Management at Cal Poly
Pomona assures the community that the removal of the Eucalyptus
trees was not meant to alarm anyone.

“It was an issue of safety,” said Miller. “We noticed that the
branches were becoming heavy, so we decided it was in the campus’
best interest to remove them before someone got hurt.”

All large trees branches are known to fall, but a heavy
Eucalyptus branch can especially do a lot of damage due to its
density and high resin content.

According to Miller, the Facilities Management department was
conveniently on campus during winter break due to the electrical
shutdown, which is why they chose the week of Dec. 26 to remove the
trees.

With state budget cuts, the university cannot afford to replant
the trees. However, Miller said they do have plans to add more
scenery in the near future. The safety of those on campus will
certainly be kept in mind.

While the Cal Poly Pomona community will be pleased to know that
the trees were removed on good merit, this issue served as an
opportunity for students to vocalize opinions that otherwise may
have gone unsaid.

It is clear the beautiful scenery on campus is cherished by the
community.

Many students were unhappy about the missing trees. Some even
took initiative to publicly vent their frustration on the
matter.

In a blog posted to micro-blogging website Tumblr, Anneli Fogt,
a second-year communication student, weighed in, “The trees are a
beautiful link to the past that give the campus character.”

With no clue as to why the trees went suddenly missing, the CPP
community had no other choice but to speculate.

Fogt suspected that renovation on campus could be responsible,
but does not see how this could be a

positive change.

“It’s left the area in front of the Bronco Student Center
hopelessly empty,” Fogt said.

Fogt is not the only student who was outraged by the sudden
disappearance of foliage. Anthony Cerna, a fifth-year kinesiology
student considered the example CPP is setting as an institution
fostering the minds of young adults who will soon be entering the
real world.

“As a student, part of me would not mind a few trees getting
chopped down as long as my education is not affected,” Cerna said.
“But destroying our ecosystem for something so trivial is a result
of unethical leadership. If no one stands up to say something
against such a heinous act, we are allowing the conscience of our
youth to ignore issues that we continue to harm our planet.”

Cal Poly students are aware that they are the ones who must live
with changes that are out of their

control.

Third-year anthropology student Alexa Diven said “It’s great
that students are responding to situations like this. It really
shows that we do in fact care about the environment around us.”

This event may be kept in mind when changes to the university
are actually decided upon.

Cerna said, “We will enjoy the progress of human skill and
craft, but will anyone know at what cost?”